Jato Got a CMX Unimog

[JatoTheRipper]

I've had a Tamiya CC-01 and I just don't like them. They aren't capable enough for me in stock form so I quickly sold mine. When the CMX was announced I was interested because it gives you the very cool CC-01 bodies in a much more capable, 4-linked, form. They were priced too high for my liking and I wanted other things more so I forgot about the CMX.

Then I saw OSRC's CFX out on the trail a couple of weekends ago and it impressed me. At that time he told me AMain was having a clearance sale so I checked it out when I got home. Some friends are bad influences.

I like the FJ40 body, but that was the long wheelbase and I wanted something shorter like a lot of the CC-01 bodies so I went with the Unimog. $167 shipped for a hobby grade RC is crazy.

Getting a new RC box is always exciting.




I've been told the CMX is a mini SCX10 and it's true.




One thing I have to say is this is the most non ready to run RTR out of the box that I've ever owned. The body is painted and the most tedious window-trim decals are applied, thankfully since I hate painting, but the rest of the decals and details aren't installed. You also have to install the body posts on the chassis and punch mounting holes in the body. Tamiya makes this easy because they have indents molded into the body where you need to drill the body post holes.

I just wanted to run the darn thing in my rock/weed garden so I installed the body posts on the chassis and drilled holes in the body.

I like the look of the orange body and black wheels. I like the tires. They actually worked pretty well in the cold. I'm not sure if I'll stick with 1.9s or if I'll go down to 1.55s. I do think I'll go with metal wheels to add weight though.




I was impressed with the first drive. It's far more capable than a CC-01 for sure. And with a few mods it will be even more capable.

[Jboucher]

Not directly related to your build but is the unimog the only 1:1 portal axle truck?

Ever since i saw the new currie portals from VP i kinda want them for my future honcho Scx10.2 but i fear it wouldn't feel scale enough...

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[2mtech]

I got my CMX mainly to fit a Parma '56 Chevy P/U body I'd had for a while, and it was acceptable enough, but it had its lunch handed to it at a GCM TinyTruck event and has remained mostly on the shelf. The CFX sees a lot of trail time, though.

Would be hard to say you didn't get your money's worth!

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

I got my CMX mainly to fit a Parma '56 Chevy P/U body I'd had for a while, and it was acceptable enough, but it had its lunch handed to it at a GCM TinyTruck event and has remained mostly on the shelf. The CFX sees a lot of trail time, though.

Would be hard to say you didn't get your money's worth!

Why do you prefer the CFX over the CMX?

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Why do you prefer the CFX over the CMX?

Mainly the forward motor mount, which is a $75 option kit for the CMX. It was also more easily expandable to the 287mm wb I needed for the JK.

[Ditchrat]

Originally Posted by Jboucher

Not directly related to your build but is the unimog the only 1:1 portal axle truck?

Ever since i saw the new currie portals from VP i kinda want them for my future honcho Scx10.2 but i fear it wouldn't feel scale enough...

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

No Mercedes, Volkswagen, Porsche, Hummer, volvo, toyota and a few Russian vehicles came with portals.

Aftermarket kits for the defenders are widely available.

Funny thing about portal axles is they are not even close to scale in application. I have driven a few portal axle vehicles and they are not for rock crawling or even trailing. They are for overland transportation where a High COG doent mater and where high ground clearance does.

Portal axle rigs are very tippy, which is why you don't see many around.

Looks cool.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Mainly the forward motor mount, which is a $75 option kit for the CMX. It was also more easily expandable to the 287mm wb I needed for the JK.

Ah you wanted the longer wheelbase. I want to keep this small when my trailing buddies bring out their CC-01s I have something to run.

Originally Posted by Ditchrat

No Mercedes, Volkswagen, Porsche, Hummer, volvo, toyota and a few Russian vehicles came with portals.

Aftermarket kits for the defenders are widely available.

Funny thing about portal axles is they are not even close to scale in application. I have driven a few portal axle vehicles and they are not for rock crawling or even trailing. They are for overland transportation where a High COG doent mater and where high ground clearance does.

Portal axle rigs are very tippy, which is why you don't see many around.

Looks cool.

Oddly enough there are custom build rock crawlers that use portals.

I think the Unimog is one of the most well known vehicles for having portal axles, but as Ditchrat said, it's definitely not the only one.

[JatoTheRipper]

As I said, this thing crawls pretty darn well in stock form. The Mog body is front heavy, but also a little top heavy. Still, this "Little Shit," as I began calling it, crawls very well. That doesn't mean it can't be improved hence why we are here on this thread.

I thought the CMX came with CVDs from the factory, but it felt very notchy and dogbone-ish while driving it. I double checked and apparently it has CVDs - or does it? Not exactly. OSRC told me that they are CVD-like, but the barrel isn't there. Sure enough, that's what the manual shows. Very odd. The offer CVDs, with the barrels, as an aftermarket part.




The CMX comes with brass bushings instead of bearings. That was the first thing I wanted to change. My go-to bearing kits come from Fast Eddy and this time is no different. He doesn't offer a CMX kit, but I bought the CFX kit assuming they would be close enough. If anything, I'd like the CFX would have more bearings than the CMX.




I replaced bearings in the transmission first. In order to get the trans out I had to unplug the ESC from the receiver. The transmission has a wire management hoop on the side and the ESC wires was fed through there. Cool, but a PITA at the same time.

I forgot to take photos while it was apart, but the trans is now bushing free and it has bearings and Tamiya grease on the plastic gears. But you can tell bearings reside inside now just by looking at it, right?






Here's the rear axle opened up. You can see the brass bushings. The gears are metal, but oddly the locker is plastic. I think MST offers a metal locker, but I'm not sure I need it. I plan to power this with mild electronics.




Front axle removed. That's as far as I got last night. When I resume the front axle will get bearings.

The front servo was lacking which isn't surprising for an RTR. I want an upgrade servo, but not something that's going to snap the plastic.

[soze]

Awesome! I got the same exact one. I'm probably not going to use the Unimog body on this one. Interestingly enough... I have a Tamiya Ford Bronco CR-01 that I haven't built yet. I'll probably use the Bronco body for the CMX and the Unimog body for the CR-01.

[Ditchrat]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Oddly enough there are custom build rock crawlers that use portals.

I think a portal axle rig with full droop would be interesting. Same center of gravity and clearance as a scx10, but with good shock travel.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by soze

Awesome! I got the same exact one. I'm probably not going to use the Unimog body on this one. Interestingly enough... I have a Tamiya Ford Bronco CR-01 that I haven't built yet. I'll probably use the Bronco body for the CMX and the Unimog body for the CR-01.

The Bronco body looks better and will probably offer lower COG, and therefore, better performance.

Originally Posted by Ditchrat

I think a portal axle rig with full droop would be interesting. Same center of gravity and clearance as a scx10, but with good shock travel.

Do a ToyZuki chassis with portal axles!

[Gula]

I got one of these too, while they were on sale. I bought it to replace a old TLT axled Kaetwo 2-3S chassis. I wont be using my Unimog body either, but the OG Mercedes G55 body that was on the old chassis. Good to know they don't have bearings throughout, do you have a bearing size list or anything?

[OSRC]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

....Then I saw OSRC's CFX out on the trail a couple of weekends ago and it impressed me......

Oh, you mean the truck that ran for 10 minutes, flipped backwards and snapped both front body mounts? You have a very low bar sir.

We'll have a CMX/CFX face off this weekend. Bring the A game!

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Oh, you mean the truck that ran for 10 minutes, flipped backwards and snapped both front body mounts? You have a very low bar sir.

We'll have a CMX/CFX face off this weekend. Bring the A game!

Except for the broken body mounts, which is minor, I think it performed well. I didn't have high expectations of such a little rig though so that might have something to do with me being impressed.

The body mounts for the rear of the Mog are very odd. They are a total of 5 pieces. I got the job done with 3. I didn't use the bottom half of the posts. I don't know why they designed them that way.

Looking forward to it. I'll bring my C game. No custom shock mounts here.

[JatoTheRipper]

I tore the front axle open and this is what I found.



Broken down it looks like this. Again, everything except the locker and the left half of the diff is metal. I do want to upgrade these to metal. This is an odd design because the cross/drive pins can push all the way through the locker. There isn't a center stop. The pins stay centered in the locker once the diff halves are screwed together though.




Mmm bearings. That's more better.




The steering knuckles are held on by two coarse thread shoulder bolts. This isn't anything out of the ordinary, but there's nothing to prevent friction - no top hat bushings, no washers, nothing. I would have added bearings if I wasn't lazy to look for them. I'll get 'em next time. Isn't that what we always say?




Here's the rolling chassis with all of the bearings installed. That underneath? It's not CMX poop. It's all of the stupid brass bushings that were removed.




Mmm leftovers! Thankfully my assumption that the CFX bearing kit would cover the CMX was correct. Just a few leftover bearings I don't need.

[soze]

Man, you really make me want to bust out my CMX and tinker with it. Need to resist though... I have other trucks to finish tinkering with right now.

[Ditchrat]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

The steering knuckles are held on by two coarse thread shoulder bolts. This isn't anything out of the ordinary, but there's nothing to prevent friction - no top hat bushings, no washers, nothing. I would have added bearings if I wasn't lazy to look for them. I'll get 'em next time. Isn't that what we always say?




.

not sure what you are looking for. The shoulder is a bushing. I dont know if you are under the impression that bushings rotate, but they shouldn't, so a shoulder bolt serves the same purpose and has the same friction(if they are like materials), with out the sacrificial bushing.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Ditchrat

not sure what you are looking for. The shoulder is a bushing. I dont know if you are under the impression that bushings rotate, but they shouldn't, so a shoulder bolt serves the same purpose and has the same friction(if they are like materials), with out the sacrificial bushing.

There are no bushings/spacers/washers between the C-hub and the knuckle. So basically plastic rides on plastic.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Here's the rolling chassis with all of the bearings installed. That underneath? It's not CMX poop. It's all of the stupid brass bushings that were removed.

Wait, I thought everyone now loves brass and can't get enough of it.

Maybe brass bushings are the next big craze and the CMX is ahead of the curve.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by svt923

Wait, I thought everyone now loves brass and can't get enough of it.

Maybe brass bushings are the next big craze and the CMX is ahead of the curve.

You know I thought of that as I was taking them out. Maybe I can sell them to the brass vendors and they can melt them down into something useful?